Province moves to open up adoption records — with veto provision

The New Brunswick government has introduced legislation that will unseal adoption records in the province.  

But the unsealing would be subject to restrictions that one adoptee advocate calls unfair.

The law would create two sets of rules: one for adoptions before April 1, 2018, and another for adoptions after.

For those before, an adult adoptee or birth parent could apply for information about the other person, but the other person could veto its release.

Can veto contact

For adoptions after April 1, 2018, birth parents would be told that information may someday be released to the adoptee, but they could choose not to be contacted.

"This is great for families," said Families Minister Stephen Horsman. "The people we've talked to in the past, they're all excited about this."

The previous Progressive Conservative government held consultations about unsealing adoption records and had planned to introduce a bill.

But after the Liberals won the 2014 election, the process seemed to stall.

"We've listened to the New Brunswickers who have been adopted, the adoptees, and I think we're doing the right thing," Horsman said Wednesday.

Welcomed as good start

Garth McCrea of Woodstock, a 52-year-old adoptee who chairs the Coalition for Open Adoption Records, applauded the Liberal move.

"It's a good day and a good thing," he said. "It's the start of a road that we want to go down."

But he said he didn't like the veto for birth parents in adoptions that happen before April 1, 2018.

"It will leave some people out there on their own, stranded," he said. "These are not children. You're creating a second-class citizen and it's not fair."

He acknowledged that most other jurisdictions in Canada have some form of veto but "there are going to be some unhappy people who are going to be denied their rights."

McCrea, who suffered a major stroke last summer, said having more information about his birth parents might have given him an indication he was at risk and allowed him to avoid the stroke.

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"I don't know if there was anything in my background that could have helped me, that could have saved me," he said.

The province already shares medical information on birth parents with adoptees if it's available. That will continue regardless of the new law.

Deadline for deciding

The post-April 1, 2018, birth parents would be able to select what kind of contact they have with the adoptees, if any. The same would apply to adopted children once they reach 19.

The pre-April 1, 2018, birth parents and adoptees would each have one year to invoke a veto. If they don't respond or can't be reached, the information will be released.

The adoptee has to be 19 years old to request information.